Links, References & Credits

Links

Andy White's Blackburn Buccaneer: The Last British Bomber site is absolutely
excellent and I cannot praise it highly enough - bags of individual aircraft histories with colour profile
drawings and weapon load diagrams, loads of varied articles on every aspect of the Bucc and
photo galleries too. If you want just one Buccaneer bookmark, this is the one!

References - Books

Flying the Buccaneer - Britain's Cold War Warrior by Peter Caygill

ISBN 978-1-84415-669-6

Published by Pen and Sword Books Ltd, 2008

The title says it all - this is all about what it was like to fly the beast, kicking off with a brief chapter on design and development
before getting to the meat of the book, the flying. Detailed accounts of the flight test programme and initial carrier trials,
the S.1 and its handling characteristics, same for the S.2 along with tactics for anti-shipping and overland strike missions.
Finishes up with a chapter on accidents, and some "I was there" stuff from Buccaneer pilots. It is a frustrating book though,
because if it had been produced in a fully illustrated format it would have been absolutely superb - alas it's an old fashioned
production with a few inserts of black and white photos here and there, and the grand total of two line drawings (in one of the tactics chapters).
Still, content is king and the content is fascinating so this is absolutely worth buying and is good value to boot.

Buccaneer S.1 - From The Cockpit by Michael J. Doust

ISBN 978-1-946958-62-7

Published by Ad Hoc Publications

A fascinating book full of recollections from those who flew and maintained the S.Mk.1, with lots of photos you won't
see elsewhere - mostly black and white but some colour coverage. Gives a real feel for what life was like for those at
the sharp end with the early Buccaneers - highly recommended. Makes a very good companion to Flying the Buccaneer, above.

The Buccaneers by Air Commodore Graham Pitchfork

ISBN 1-85260-611-8

Published by PSL

A great 'from the cockpit' type of book with development and service history interspersed with loads of recollections
from those who flew the Bucc, and many previously unpublished photographs - mostly in colour. Well worth getting hold of
though it is a bit tricky to get hold of now.

ISBN

Published by Hall Park Books Ltd.

A 24-page monograph intended for modellers, including
a good history, lots of pictures spanning the Bucc's service life, 1/72 scale plans, lots of
colour side views. Particularly worth getting if you're building a model.

From Spitfire to Eurofighter by Roy Boot

ISBN 1-85310-093-5

Published by Airlife

Roy Boot was a Blackburn designer who did a lot of work on the Buccaneer, and this book is
a must if you want to know more about the Buccaneer project. Very detailed with lots of interesting
anecdotes from the development programme, and a number of diagrams too.

References - Magazines

Aircraft Illustrated, April 1983: Buccaneering with 237 OCU - an article on the role of
the Buccaneer Operational Conversion Unit that makes interesting reading.

Air Forces Monthly Special - Storm in the Desert: a post-Gulf War special issue showing
off the nose art etc. applied to many aircraft. Includes four pages covering the Buccaneer's role
in the war and the nose art applied to them (also several pages on other RAF aircraft).

AIR Pictorial, February 1972: "Eagle" and Her Brood & Who Sank the Carriers? - two articles
on the HMS Eagle and the demise of the RN's carriers with some Buccaneer coverage. Interesting articles
though not particularly useful as Buccaneer reference.

AIR Pictorial, October 1985: Blackburn's Buccaneer -
good article on the development of the Buccaneer with lots of pictures of the prototypes etc. and
a 3-view.

AIR Pictorial, March 1997: Choose a Pirate for the Navy - part 1 of a fascinating
two part article by Tony Buttler on the projects put forward to match the M.148T specification.

AIR Pictorial, April 1997: Choose a Pirate for the Navy - part 2 of a fascinating
two part article by Tony Buttler on the projects put forward to match the M.148T specification.

AIR International, August 1982: apparently includes an article on the Buccaneer's
development and early RAF service. I haven't seen it myself.

AIR International, March 1994: Buccaneer Bows Out - good article looking back over
the Bucc's career with the RN/RAF/SAAF, 3D cutaway and some nice pictures. This issue also
has two Sea Eagle-laden Buccs on the front cover.

Flight International, 11 February 1971: RAF Buccaneers - article on the introduction of the
Bucc into RAF service.

Scale Aviation Modeller International, January 1997: Buccaneer - article on building
the Airfix 1/48th scale kit (which is truly excellent despite some early production examples
having warped fuselage parts).

Credits

This section would have been greatly the poorer without contributions from the following - so many thanks to (in
alphabetical order):

Visitor Comments

Yes also enjoyed Phoenix Squadron, and just think that this is a rather wonderful piece of engineering

Norman J Roberson from OAKHAM, Rutland

Posted at 12:22pm on Saturday, September 26th, 2009

Reference Buccaneer S2 XK526

This aircraft was the Gate Guardian at RAF Honington from 16/2/83 until early 1994, when the Station became the HQ for the RAF Regiment. It was made a Memorial prior to this change of roles, to prevent the RAF Regiment from replacing it with a piece of artilery. A Memorial can never be removed, whereas a Gate Guardian can.

Regards

Norman Roberson
(Buccaneer Aircrew Association Historian)

Jeremy Edwards from Melton Mowbray

Posted at 12:43pm on Sunday, August 30th, 2009

The book "Phoenix Squadron" by Rowland White, Bantam Press ISBN 9780593054505, covers the 1972 mission to overfly Belize by a pair of Buccaneers, supported by others in a tanker role. It's a good book and a strong argument for the excellence of the aeroplane